The Ten In Your Life

6 Ways To Get Traffic To Your Blog »

By Erwin on Jun 19, 2007 in Traffic, Blogging | 4 Comments

You’ve put a lot of work into your blog, and you put more in every day. But without a steady stream of traffic, no one’s the wiser. Use these seven tips to get more traffic to your blog.

1. Do your SEO and keyword research homework.

Make sure the HTML of your site is search engine friendly. Here’s a basic search engine optimization checklist:

• Do your post titles have appropriate keywords?
• Do your anchor links have keywords in them? Using “here” as a link is a missed opportunity.
• Does your domain name include a primary keyword?

2. Submit your site to the 1st and 2nd tier engines like Google, Yahoo, Dmoz, MSN and Looksmart, and to the blog directories.

Here’s a short list of sites that offer free blog listings:

Technorati
http://www.technorati.com/

Bloglines
http://www.bloglines.com/

WeBlogALot
http://www.weblogalot.com/

Globe of Blogs
http://www.globeofblogs.com/

BlogHop
http://www.bloghop.com/

Blogarama
http://www.blogarama.com/

3. Ping like you mean it.

This is a way for you to raise your hand to the blog trackers when you’ve posted new content. You can do it site by site at places like Technorati, or go to Ping-o-matic and mass-ping your blog to over 20 sites. Make sure your blog is set up to ping the appropriate sites every time you publish a post.

Normally, I use Pingoat to ping my blog.

4. Feed your RSS.

Make sure your blog has one and that it’s working. An RSS feed is a bit of XML that allows your blog to push content to RSS readers. That way people don’t have to visit your site to get your latest insights – they just open their RSS reader and read the news. If your blog is at Blogger.com, don’t worry about an RSS feed – its already been created for you. If you’re not at Blogger.com and your current blog doesn’t have RSS functionality, visit Feedcraft.com and sign up for their free service that will set up an RSS feed from any website (blog or not).

5. Swap links.

Make a list of relevant sites you’d love to link to your blog. Write them a short friendly note and offer to let them use a few of your posts as content on their site in exchange for a link back to your site. Also, link to their sites from within one of your posts.
Be sure to offer to exchange links in the links section of your blog. Most blog software programs offer this.

There are also sites that special in helping bloggers swap links. Web Log Empire is a large one. If you’re willing to pay for a link to your site, check out Text-Link-Ads.

6. Be part of the blogging community.

Go to other blog sites you admire. Contribute to their blogs in ways that add real value. Write good, thoughtful comments that are content rich. Give away what you know. Do it a lot – at least 3 posts a week. Over time you’ll become recognized as someone who has something worthwhile to say. As your reputation grows, people will seek out your blog. This is not an overnight process, but by paying your dues and building an audience you are positioning yourself to become a star.
By the way, if your site doesn’t have the functionality for visitors at add comments, Haloscan is a free service that will let them do so. It also allows for “trackbacking”, which is a way to manage pings.

2 Mistakes People Make When Choosing A Niche »

By Erwin on May 24, 2007 | In Niche | No Comments »

Mistake #1 - Thinking You Have To Be An Expert First

You don’t really need to be an expert when it comes to choosing a niche for your product. I’ve known dozens of marketers who are doing well with their own sets of niches and to share with you more, most of these niches they came up with are not money-making niches.

They are simply not experts in these niches too! What they did was there simply hire ghostwriters to create the info products for them.

Mistake #2 - Being Too “Product-Oriented” Instead Of “Market-Oriented”

You really have to admit this! You and I can think and create any ideas and produce a product instantly. Most of the time, beginners are blinded by other people’s successes and sell products just for the sake of selling. I won’t say that won’t bring you income, but it will be a short-term income as they will soon realise they can’t come up with products to sell their current customers.

But if you start with a market in mind, you will have a group of people you can sell to and you will get to know what they really need. This will allow you to discover the problems of that particular market and create products around that.. Not the other way round.

//<![CDATA[

var bcLoadingImage = “http://phydeauxredux.googlepages.com/loading-trans.gif”;
var bcLoadingMessage = ” Loading….”;
var bcArchiveNavText = “View Archive”;
var bcArchiveNavPrev = ‘◄’;
var bcArchiveNavNext = ‘►’;
var headDays = [”Sunday”,”Monday”,”Tuesday”,”Wednesday”,”Thursday”,”Friday”,”Saturday”];
var headInitial = [”Su”,”Mo”,”Tu”,”We”,”Th”,”Fr”,”Sa”];

// Nothing to configure past this point ———————————-
var timeOffset;
var bcBlogID;
var calMonth;
var calDay = 1;
var calYear;
var startIndex;
var callmth;
var bcNav = new Array ();
var bcList = new Array ();

//Initialize Fill Array
var fill = [”",”31″,”28″,”31″,”30″,”31″,”30″,”31″,”31″,”30″,”31″,”30″,”31″];
function openStatus(){
document.getElementById(’calLoadingStatus’).style.display = ‘block’;
document.getElementById(’calendarDisplay’).innerHTML = ‘’;
}
function closeStatus(){
document.getElementById(’calLoadingStatus’).style.display = ‘none’;
}
function bcLoadStatus(){
cls = document.getElementById(’calLoadingStatus’);
img = document.createElement(’img’);
img.src = bcLoadingImage;
img.style.verticalAlign = ‘middle’;
cls.appendChild(img);
txt = document.createTextNode(bcLoadingMessage);
cls.appendChild(txt);
}
function callArchive(mth,yr,nav){
// Check for Leap Years
if (((yr % 4 == 0) && (yr % 100 != 0)) || (yr % 400 == 0)) {
fill[2] = ‘29′;
}
else {
fill[2] = ‘28′;
}
calMonth = mth;
calYear = yr;
if(mth.charAt(0) == 0){
calMonth = mth.substring(1);
}
callmth = mth;
bcNavAll = document.getElementById(’bcFootAll’);
bcNavPrev = document.getElementById(’bcFootPrev’);
bcNavNext = document.getElementById(’bcFootNext’);
bcSelect = document.getElementById(’bcSelection’);
a = document.createElement(’a');
at = document.createTextNode(bcArchiveNavText);
a.href = bcNav[nav];
a.appendChild(at);
bcNavAll.innerHTML = ‘’;
bcNavAll.appendChild(a);
bcNavPrev.innerHTML = ‘’;
bcNavNext.innerHTML = ‘’;
if(nav < bcNav.length -1){
a = document.createElement(’a');
a.innerHTML = bcArchiveNavPrev;
bcp = parseInt(nav,10) + 1;
a.href = bcNav[bcp];
a.title = ‘Previous Archive’;
prevSplit = bcList[bcp].split(’,');
a.onclick = function(){bcSelect.options[bcp].selected = true;openStatus();callArchive(prevSplit[0],prevSplit[1],prevSplit[2]);return false;};
bcNavPrev.appendChild(a);
}
if(nav > 0){
a = document.createElement(’a');
a.innerHTML = bcArchiveNavNext;
bcn = parseInt(nav,10) - 1;
a.href = bcNav[bcn];
a.title = ‘Next Archive’;
nextSplit = bcList[bcn].split(’,');
a.onclick = function(){bcSelect.options[bcn].selected = true;openStatus();callArchive(nextSplit[0],nextSplit[1],nextSplit[2]);return false;};
bcNavNext.appendChild(a);
}
script = document.createElement(’script’);
script.src = ‘http://www.blogger.com/feeds/’+bcBlogId+’/posts/summary?published-max=’+calYear+’-'+callmth+’-'+fill[calMonth]+’T23%3A59%3A59′+timeOffset+’&published-min=’+calYear+’-'+callmth+’-01T00%3A00%3A00′+timeOffset+’&max-results=100&orderby=published&alt=json-in-script&callback=cReadArchive’;
document.getElementsByTagName(’head’)[0].appendChild(script);
}

function cReadArchive(root){
// Check for Leap Years
if (((calYear % 4 == 0) && (calYear % 100 != 0)) || (calYear % 400 == 0)) {
fill[2] = ‘29′;
}
else {
fill[2] = ‘28′;
}
closeStatus();
document.getElementById(’lastRow’).style.display = ‘none’;
calDis = document.getElementById(’calendarDisplay’);
var feed = root.feed;
var total = feed.openSearch$totalResults.$t;
var entries = feed.entry || [];
var fillDate = new Array();
var fillTitles = new Array();
fillTitles.length = 32;
var ul = document.createElement(’ul’);
ul.id = ‘calendarUl’;
for (var i = 0; i < feed.entry.length; ++i) {
var entry = feed.entry[i];
var link = entry.link[0].href;
var title = entry.title.$t;
var author = entry.author[0].name.$t;
var date = entry.published.$t;
var summary = entry.summary.$t;
isPublished = date.split(’T')[0].split(’-')[2];
if(isPublished.charAt(0) == ‘0′){
isPublished = isPublished.substring(1);
}
fillDate.push(isPublished);
if (fillTitles[isPublished]){
fillTitles[isPublished] = fillTitles[isPublished] + ‘ | ‘ + title;
}
else {
fillTitles[isPublished] = title;
}
li = document.createElement(’li’);
li.style.listType = ‘none’;
li.innerHTML = ‘‘+title+’‘;
ul.appendChild(li);

}
calDis.appendChild(ul);
var val1 = parseInt(calDay, 10)
var valxx = parseInt(calMonth, 10);
var val2 = valxx - 1;
var val3 = parseInt(calYear, 10);
var firstCalDay = new Date(val3,val2,1);
var val0 = firstCalDay.getDay();
startIndex = val0 + 1;
var dayCount = 1;
for (x =1; x < 38; x++){
var cell = document.getElementById(’cell’+x);
if( x < startIndex){
cell.innerHTML = ‘ ‘;
cell.className = ‘firstCell’;
}
if( x >= startIndex){
cell.innerHTML = dayCount;
cell.className = ‘filledCell’;
for(p = 0; p < fillDate.length; p++){
if(dayCount == fillDate[p]){
if(fillDate[p].length == 1){
fillURL = ‘0′+fillDate[p];
}
else {
fillURL = fillDate[p];
}
cell.className = ‘highlightCell’;
cell.innerHTML = ‘‘+dayCount+’‘;
}
}
if( dayCount > fill[valxx]){
cell.innerHTML = ‘ ‘;
cell.className = ‘emptyCell’;
}
dayCount++;
}
}
visTotal = parseInt(startIndex) + parseInt(fill[valxx]) -1;
if(visTotal >35){
document.getElementById(’lastRow’).style.display = ‘’;
}
}

function initCal(){
document.getElementById(’blogger_calendar’).style.display = ‘block’;
var bcInit = document.getElementById(’bloggerCalendarList’).getElementsByTagName(’a');
var bcCount = document.getElementById(’bloggerCalendarList’).getElementsByTagName(’li’);
document.getElementById(’bloggerCalendarList’).style.display = ‘none’;
calHead = document.getElementById(’bcHead’);
tr = document.createElement(’tr’);
for(t = 0; t < 7; t++){
th = document.createElement(’th’);
th.abbr = headDays[t];
scope = ‘col’;
th.title = headDays[t];
th.innerHTML = headInitial[t];
tr.appendChild(th);
}
calHead.appendChild(tr);
for (x = 0; x <bcInit.length;x++){
var stripYear= bcInit[x].href.split(’_')[0].split(’/')[3];
var stripMonth = bcInit[x].href.split(’_')[1];
bcList.push(stripMonth + ‘,’+ stripYear + ‘,’ + x);
bcNav.push(bcInit[x].href);
}
var sel = document.createElement(’select’);
sel.id = ‘bcSelection’;
sel.onchange = function(){var cSend = this.options[this.selectedIndex].value.split(’,');openStatus();callArchive(cSend[0],cSend[1],cSend[2]);};
q = 0;
for (r = 0; r <bcList.length; r++){
var selText = bcInit[r].innerHTML;
var selCount = bcCount[r].innerHTML.split(’> (’)[1];
var selValue = bcList[r];
sel.options[q] = new Option(selText + ‘ (’+selCount,selValue);
q++
}
document.getElementById(’bcaption’).appendChild(sel);
var m = bcList[0].split(’,')[0];
var y = bcList[0].split(’,')[1];
callArchive(m,y,’0′);
}

function timezoneSet(root){
var feed = root.feed;
var updated = feed.updated.$t;
var id = feed.id.$t;
bcBlogId = id.split(’blog-’)[1];
upLength = updated.length;
if(updated.charAt(upLength-1) == “Z”){timeOffset = “+00:00″;}
else {timeOffset = updated.substring(upLength-6,upLength);}
timeOffset = encodeURIComponent(timeOffset);
}

//]]>

bcLoadStatus();

initCal();

Configure your calendar archive widget - Edit archive widget - Flat List - Newest first - Choose any Month/Year Format


Configure your calendar archive widget - Edit archive widget - Flat List - Newest first - Choose any Month/Year Format

bcLoadStatus();

initCal();

Configure your calendar archive widget - Edit archive widget - Flat List - Newest first - Choose any Month/Year Format


Configure your calendar archive widget - Edit archive widget - Flat List - Newest first - Choose any Month/Year Format

Copy and Paste between the above 2 tags. This is the html code that you will need to copy and paste.

//<![CDATA[ var bcLoadingImage = “http://phydeauxredux.googlepages.com/loading-trans.gif”; var bcLoadingMessage = ” Loading….”; var bcArchiveNavText = “View Archive”; var bcArchiveNavPrev = ‘◄’; var bcArchiveNavNext = ‘►’; var headDays = [”Sunday”,”Monday”,”Tuesday”,”Wednesday”,”Thursday”,”Friday”,”Saturday”]; var headInitial = [”Su”,”Mo”,”Tu”,”We”,”Th”,”Fr”,”Sa”]; // Nothing to configure past this point ———————————- var timeOffset; var bcBlogID; var calMonth; var calDay = 1; var calYear; var startIndex; var callmth; var bcNav = new Array (); var bcList = new Array (); //Initialize Fill Array var fill = [”",”31″,”28″,”31″,”30″,”31″,”30″,”31″,”31″,”30″,”31″,”30″,”31″]; function openStatus(){ document.getElementById(’calLoadingStatus’).style.display = ‘block’; document.getElementById(’calendarDisplay’).innerHTML = ‘’; } function closeStatus(){ document.getElementById(’calLoadingStatus’).style.display = ‘none’; } function bcLoadStatus(){ cls = document.getElementById(’calLoadingStatus’); img = document.createElement(’img’); img.src = bcLoadingImage; img.style.verticalAlign = ‘middle’; cls.appendChild(img); txt = document.createTextNode(bcLoadingMessage); cls.appendChild(txt); } function callArchive(mth,yr,nav){ // Check for Leap Years if (((yr % 4 == 0) && (yr % 100 != 0)) || (yr % 400 == 0)) { fill[2] = ‘29′; } else { fill[2] = ‘28′; } calMonth = mth; calYear = yr; if(mth.charAt(0) == 0){ calMonth = mth.substring(1); } callmth = mth; bcNavAll = document.getElementById(’bcFootAll’); bcNavPrev = document.getElementById(’bcFootPrev’); bcNavNext = document.getElementById(’bcFootNext’); bcSelect = document.getElementById(’bcSelection’); a = document.createElement(’a'); at = document.createTextNode(bcArchiveNavText); a.href = bcNav[nav]; a.appendChild(at); bcNavAll.innerHTML = ‘’; bcNavAll.appendChild(a); bcNavPrev.innerHTML = ‘’; bcNavNext.innerHTML = ‘’; if(nav 0){
a = document.createElement(’a');
a.innerHTML = bcArchiveNavNext;
bcn = parseInt(nav,10) - 1;
a.href = bcNav[bcn];
a.title = ‘Next Archive’;
nextSplit = bcList[bcn].split(’,');
a.onclick = function(){bcSelect.options[bcn].selected = true;openStatus();callArchive(nextSplit[0],nextSplit[1],nextSplit[2]);return false;};
bcNavNext.appendChild(a);
}
script = document.createElement(’script’);
script.src = ‘http://www.blogger.com/feeds/’+bcBlogId+’/posts/summary?published-max=’+calYear+’-'+callmth+’-'+fill[calMonth]+’T23%3A59%3A59′+timeOffset+’&published-min=’+calYear+’-'+callmth+’-01T00%3A00%3A00′+timeOffset+’&max-results=100&orderby=published&alt=json-in-script&callback=cReadArchive’;
document.getElementsByTagName(’head’)[0].appendChild(script);
}

function cReadArchive(root){
// Check for Leap Years
if (((calYear % 4 == 0) && (calYear % 100 != 0)) || (calYear % 400 == 0)) {
fill[2] = ‘29′;
}
else {
fill[2] = ‘28′;
}
closeStatus();
document.getElementById(’lastRow’).style.display = ‘none’;
calDis = document.getElementById(’calendarDisplay’);
var feed = root.feed;
var total = feed.openSearch$totalResults.$t;
var entries = feed.entry || [];
var fillDate = new Array();
var fillTitles = new Array();
fillTitles.length = 32;
var ul = document.createElement(’ul’);
ul.id = ‘calendarUl’;
for (var i = 0; i < entry =” feed.entry[i];” link =” entry.link[0].href;” title =” entry.title.$t;” author =” entry.author[0].name.$t;” date =” entry.published.$t;” summary =” entry.summary.$t;” ispublished =” date.split(’T')[0].split(’-')[2];” ispublished =” isPublished.substring(1);” li =” document.createElement(’li’);” listtype =” ‘none’;” innerhtml =” ‘‘+title+'’;
ul.appendChild(li);

}
calDis.appendChild(ul);
var val1 = parseInt(calDay, 10)
var valxx = parseInt(calMonth, 10);
var val2 = valxx - 1;
var val3 = parseInt(calYear, 10);
var firstCalDay = new Date(val3,val2,1);
var val0 = firstCalDay.getDay();
startIndex = val0 + 1;
var dayCount = 1;
for (x =1; x = startIndex){
cell.innerHTML = dayCount;
cell.className = ‘filledCell’;
for(p = 0; p < daycount =”=” length =”=” fillurl =” ‘0′+fillDate[p];” fillurl =” fillDate[p];” classname =” ‘highlightCell’;” innerhtml =” ‘’+dayCount+'’;
}
}
if( dayCount > fill[valxx]){
cell.innerHTML = ‘ ‘;
cell.className = ‘emptyCell’;
}
dayCount++;
}
}
visTotal = parseInt(startIndex) + parseInt(fill[valxx]) -1;
if(visTotal >35){
document.getElementById(’lastRow’).style.display = ‘’;
}
}

function initCal(){
document.getElementById(’blogger_calendar’).style.display = ‘block’;
var bcInit = document.getElementById(’bloggerCalendarList’).getElementsByTagName(’a');
var bcCount = document.getElementById(’bloggerCalendarList’).getElementsByTagName(’li’);
document.getElementById(’bloggerCalendarList’).style.display = ‘none’;
calHead = document.getElementById(’bcHead’);
tr = document.createElement(’tr’);
for(t = 0; t (’)[1];
var selValue = bcList[r];
sel.options[q] = new Option(selText + ‘ (’+selCount,selValue);
q++
}
document.getElementById(’bcaption’).appendChild(sel);
var m = bcList[0].split(’,')[0];
var y = bcList[0].split(’,')[1];
callArchive(m,y,’0′);
}

function timezoneSet(root){
var feed = root.feed;
var updated = feed.updated.$t;
var id = feed.id.$t;
bcBlogId = id.split(’blog-’)[1];
upLength = updated.length;
if(updated.charAt(upLength-1) == “Z”){timeOffset = “+00:00″;}
else {timeOffset = updated.substring(upLength-6,upLength);}
timeOffset = encodeURIComponent(timeOffset);
}

//]]>

//<![CDATA[ var bcLoadingImage = “http://phydeauxredux.googlepages.com/loading-trans.gif”; var bcLoadingMessage = ” Loading….”; var bcArchiveNavText = “View Archive”; var bcArchiveNavPrev = ‘◄’; var bcArchiveNavNext = ‘►’; var headDays = [”Sunday”,”Monday”,”Tuesday”,”Wednesday”,”Thursday”,”Friday”,”Saturday”]; var headInitial = [”Su”,”Mo”,”Tu”,”We”,”Th”,”Fr”,”Sa”]; // Nothing to configure past this point ———————————- var timeOffset; var bcBlogID; var calMonth; var calDay = 1; var calYear; var startIndex; var callmth; var bcNav = new Array (); var bcList = new Array (); //Initialize Fill Array var fill = [”",”31″,”28″,”31″,”30″,”31″,”30″,”31″,”31″,”30″,”31″,”30″,”31″]; function openStatus(){ document.getElementById(’calLoadingStatus’).style.display = ‘block’; document.getElementById(’calendarDisplay’).innerHTML = ‘’; } function closeStatus(){ document.getElementById(’calLoadingStatus’).style.display = ‘none’; } function bcLoadStatus(){ cls = document.getElementById(’calLoadingStatus’); img = document.createElement(’img’); img.src = bcLoadingImage; img.style.verticalAlign = ‘middle’; cls.appendChild(img); txt = document.createTextNode(bcLoadingMessage); cls.appendChild(txt); } function callArchive(mth,yr,nav){ // Check for Leap Years if (((yr % 4 == 0) && (yr % 100 != 0)) || (yr % 400 == 0)) { fill[2] = ‘29′; } else { fill[2] = ‘28′; } calMonth = mth; calYear = yr; if(mth.charAt(0) == 0){ calMonth = mth.substring(1); } callmth = mth; bcNavAll = document.getElementById(’bcFootAll’); bcNavPrev = document.getElementById(’bcFootPrev’); bcNavNext = document.getElementById(’bcFootNext’); bcSelect = document.getElementById(’bcSelection’); a = document.createElement(’a'); at = document.createTextNode(bcArchiveNavText); a.href = bcNav[nav]; a.appendChild(at); bcNavAll.innerHTML = ‘’; bcNavAll.appendChild(a); bcNavPrev.innerHTML = ‘’; bcNavNext.innerHTML = ‘’; if(nav 0){
a = document.createElement(’a');
a.innerHTML = bcArchiveNavNext;
bcn = parseInt(nav,10) - 1;
a.href = bcNav[bcn];
a.title = ‘Next Archive’;
nextSplit = bcList[bcn].split(’,');
a.onclick = function(){bcSelect.options[bcn].selected = true;openStatus();callArchive(nextSplit[0],nextSplit[1],nextSplit[2]);return false;};
bcNavNext.appendChild(a);
}
script = document.createElement(’script’);
script.src = ‘http://www.blogger.com/feeds/’+bcBlogId+’/posts/summary?published-max=’+calYear+’-'+callmth+’-'+fill[calMonth]+’T23%3A59%3A59′+timeOffset+’&published-min=’+calYear+’-'+callmth+’-01T00%3A00%3A00′+timeOffset+’&max-results=100&orderby=published&alt=json-in-script&callback=cReadArchive’;
document.getElementsByTagName(’head’)[0].appendChild(script);
}

function cReadArchive(root){
// Check for Leap Years
if (((calYear % 4 == 0) && (calYear % 100 != 0)) || (calYear % 400 == 0)) {
fill[2] = ‘29′;
}
else {
fill[2] = ‘28′;
}
closeStatus();
document.getElementById(’lastRow’).style.display = ‘none’;
calDis = document.getElementById(’calendarDisplay’);
var feed = root.feed;
var total = feed.openSearch$totalResults.$t;
var entries = feed.entry || [];
var fillDate = new Array();
var fillTitles = new Array();
fillTitles.length = 32;
var ul = document.createElement(’ul’);
ul.id = ‘calendarUl’;
for (var i = 0; i < entry =” feed.entry[i];” link =” entry.link[0].href;” title =” entry.title.$t;” author =” entry.author[0].name.$t;” date =” entry.published.$t;” summary =” entry.summary.$t;” ispublished =” date.split(’T')[0].split(’-')[2];” ispublished =” isPublished.substring(1);” li =” document.createElement(’li’);” listtype =” ‘none’;” innerhtml =” ‘‘+title+'’;
ul.appendChild(li);

}
calDis.appendChild(ul);
var val1 = parseInt(calDay, 10)
var valxx = parseInt(calMonth, 10);
var val2 = valxx - 1;
var val3 = parseInt(calYear, 10);
var firstCalDay = new Date(val3,val2,1);
var val0 = firstCalDay.getDay();
startIndex = val0 + 1;
var dayCount = 1;
for (x =1; x = startIndex){
cell.innerHTML = dayCount;
cell.className = ‘filledCell’;
for(p = 0; p < daycount =”=” length =”=” fillurl =” ‘0′+fillDate[p];” fillurl =” fillDate[p];” classname =” ‘highlightCell’;” innerhtml =” ‘’+dayCount+'’;
}
}
if( dayCount > fill[valxx]){
cell.innerHTML = ‘ ‘;
cell.className = ‘emptyCell’;
}
dayCount++;
}
}
visTotal = parseInt(startIndex) + parseInt(fill[valxx]) -1;
if(visTotal >35){
document.getElementById(’lastRow’).style.display = ‘’;
}
}

function initCal(){
document.getElementById(’blogger_calendar’).style.display = ‘block’;
var bcInit = document.getElementById(’bloggerCalendarList’).getElementsByTagName(’a');
var bcCount = document.getElementById(’bloggerCalendarList’).getElementsByTagName(’li’);
document.getElementById(’bloggerCalendarList’).style.display = ‘none’;
calHead = document.getElementById(’bcHead’);
tr = document.createElement(’tr’);
for(t = 0; t (’)[1];
var selValue = bcList[r];
sel.options[q] = new Option(selText + ‘ (’+selCount,selValue);
q++
}
document.getElementById(’bcaption’).appendChild(sel);
var m = bcList[0].split(’,')[0];
var y = bcList[0].split(’,')[1];
callArchive(m,y,’0′);
}

function timezoneSet(root){
var feed = root.feed;
var updated = feed.updated.$t;
var id = feed.id.$t;
bcBlogId = id.split(’blog-’)[1];
upLength = updated.length;
if(updated.charAt(upLength-1) == “Z”){timeOffset = “+00:00″;}
else {timeOffset = updated.substring(upLength-6,upLength);}
timeOffset = encodeURIComponent(timeOffset);
}

//]]>

Save your template. It should save without any errors. Otherwise recheck the copy and paste steps above.

Finally, the last step is to configure your Archive Widget. Go to the Page Elements page, look for the Archive Widget, and click Edit. A screen like below will appear.

Please set it up as you desire except that the Style must be Flat List.

You are done.

bcLoadStatus();

initCal(); Configure your calendar archive widget - Edit archive widget - Flat List - Newest first - Choose any Month/Year Format Configure your calendar archive widget - Edit archive widget - Flat List - Newest first - Choose any Month/Year Format

4 Ways To Build Your Own Blog »

By Erwin on Jun 9, 2007 in Blogging | 3 Comments

A blog is an important communication tool for business. You can use your blog to distribute information to your potential customers, as well as build a relationship.

So how do you build a blog?

There are several ways that you can do it, but it all depends on how much time you want to spend on configuring your blog, as well as the types of customizations you want to do to your blog.

Below are several places where you can either get a blog, or get the scripts to build your blog.

Blogger - http://www.blogger.com - This is by far the easiest of all the blogs to build. It takes about 30 seconds to create a blog, and you don’t need to know HTML. If you decide that you want to customize your blog, it does have an extensive knowledge base, and you can quickly learn how to add to the template to make it your own. It’s also very search engine friendly.

Word Press - http://www.wordpress.org - Word Press is one of the most popular blog scripts on the internet. It has tons of features, and it’s search engine friendly. Some of the most popular blogs on the internet use this system for blogging. Some examples of features include plugins that allow you to create an mp3 player on your site so that you can use for podcasting. Other features include: technorati tags, photos, sitemaps, and an extensive collection of templates so that you can use to change the look and feel of your blog.

The code is light and fast, and it is search engine friendly.

Nucleus CMS - http://www.nucleuscms.org - This is the system that I use for my main blog. It has a few features that Word Press doesn’t have, like the ability to create an ezine from your posts and send them as email. You can use a cron job to automate the process, and you can send out your ezine when you want it to go out. This is especially helpful if you want to build a list of subscribers.

It’s allowed me to combine two tasks: blogging and ezine creation.

There’s an extensive collection of plugins you can use to customize your blog, as well as a theme system. The only drawback here is the lack of themes. However, new themes are being designed, and it’s pretty easy to design your own, or customize one of the theme available.

Code is search engine friendly, and you can use plugins to create a Google Sitemap, add keywords, as well as technorati tags. You can also create multiple blogs from one installation.

Drupal - http://www.drupal.org - This is really a content management system, instead of a blogging system, and instead of just creating a blog, you can create a community of blogs, or a complete community, including forums, group meetings, and more. The code is very search engine friendly.

There is a rich text editor so that you can code your posts.

Regardless of what system you choose to create your blog, choose a system that you feel comfortable with. You can quickly and easily use blogs to build relationships with your customers, as well as distribute your content. By building and writing a blog, you can demonstrate your expertise on your topic, while building relationships with your customers and readers too.

Ultimately, blogging can become one of the best tools you can use to market yourself and your business, and it’s free to implement.